Stormproof love

You must have been about two-and-a-half years old when this story happened as i wasn’t pregnant with Leon yet and I recall it was spring.

It was a nice enough day, blue skies with a few grey clouds scattered across it; your dad would go to rugby practice at around 6:30, hence wouldn’t be home for dinner. So I decided after your afternoon nap that you and I would go and pay my friend Aylin a visit. She lived a 20-minutes-drive away from us, and we went in my little Smart car (which to this day you dearly miss because it only had two seats, so you were obviously sitting in the front).

While we were driving, the weather suddenly changed drastically, and by the time we were on the road that leads along our beautiful river, a heavy storm had come up and the sky was dark grey. Huge branches of trees were blown across the street, and we saw a lot of people that had stopped and parked their cars on the sides because they were afraid to be blown away. I considered doing the same, but figured our chances to dodge those branches and other flying bits and pieces were higher if we kept moving; turning around and driving home wasn’t an option, either, as that part of the way is mainly forestal. So i kept driving at very low speed and tried not to show my nervousness to not worry you.

So there I was, focusing on the road, sweating (it was also very humid) and wondering whether I would get you through this alive- it was really, really bad! But then I felt something cool touching my right arm- it was your little hand. I looked at you, and you said: “Don’t worry Mutti, I am here with you.” That made me well up, but amazingly enough it convinced me that everything would be allright.

How could it not be- with an angel by my side….

PS: And yes, we made it there safe and sound

*Sternenmädchen*

Stars in their eyes

Then:  Your Opa (my dad) used to read stories to my siblings and me every night when we were kids; one of them was “Peterchens Mondfahrt” (“Little Peter’s trip to the moon”). In that book, a little beetle flies up to the moon to win his lost leg back, and he meets a lot of fascinating characters on his trip. The ones my dad and I loved the most were the “Sternenmädchen” (“star girls”), and from then on we went out almost every night to say good night to them- and very rarely they would even have a little present for me!

Now:  Two weeks ago we all met for Sunday Family Dinner at Omi’s and Opa’s place, and my dad told me that he had something for you boys- how about we let the Sternenmädchen do their magic? He told you the story about them and mused: “I wonder if they still do that…. Shall we give it a try?” Needless to say you were very keen, and so you and Opa stood in the garden yelling “Sternenmädchen, are you there?” He added: “My grandsons are here and I have told them all about you. Do you happen to have a little something for them by any chance?”

 Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera on me- you should have seen your faces! While you were standing there, looking at the sky with huge, shiny eyes, your dad, who had hidden in my parents’  bedroom upstairs, threw two little parcels out of window into the garden two little parcels landed in the garden! At first you just stood there- amazed, awestruck. But then you ran to get the parcels which contained a hooded jumper each, in partner look, and you both shrieked with joy and thanked the kind star girls.

To this day I am really surprised that Opa the Sternenmädchen got your sizes right….

PS: I started reading out “Peterchens Mondfahrt” to you two nights ago.

Wabbit Love

Easter 2007 (you were three years old)- probably the first year you sort of realised what easter was about. You loved all the colourful eggs (which these days are available in the supermarkets pretty much all year round, although it is beyond me how anyone could buy them when it’s NOT easter) and were pretty excited when you learnt that there would be presents on sunday.

Early in the morning, your dad and I the Easter Bunny hid some eggs and a basket with a few toy dinosaurs, sweets and a  matchbox car in our garden.  You showed astounding patience and searched every bush, turned around every stone and found everything that the bunny had left for you.

We were going to meet the Watsons for brunch a little bit later, but you were still in the garden and didn’t want to come when we called you (which -back then- was unheard of!). When I went outside to look for you, you were sitting on a rock with your arms crossed. I asked: “Do you not want to come and play with Jake and Jessie?” – You said: “No, I am waiting for the Easter Bunny to come back!” I thought: “Sheesh, that’s a bit greedy, you got quite a few toys already!” and told you that the bunny only visits every kid once and won’t come back to drop off more toys. You sighed and said: “I KNOW that- I am just hoping for him to come past our garden on his way home so i can hug him and say ‘thank you’ for my presents!” I was so touched, so we let you sit and wait a bit longer.

About half an hour later (you were still sitting on the same spot) your dad firemancarried you to the car convinced you to come with us after all, and I promised you to leave a ‘thank you’  note for the Easter Bunny in case he came back while we were away. And what do you know- when we got home later that day, the note was gone

 

easter basket

waiting for the easter bunny

Zorro, there’s a horse on the couch!

When you were about one and a half, your dad went to New Zealand for three weeks. We couldn’t go, so we decided to go to Kyllini for four days to see Omi and Opa. We had a great time there, but the trip back was a bit of a nuisance. The airport was under construction, do we zigzagged across it on a bus for 45 minutes; when we finally arrived at the plane, we had to show our passports and boarding passes again to some moody guy in uniform with a rifle over his shoulder. I was carrying you, your changing bag and my handbag, so there was no way i could get to the documents, but when i wanted to put you down i was being yelled at by Mr Uniform whose hand then was at his rifle (in case you were planning a terrorist attack, i’m sure). So i said “Ok, but then you have to hold the boy” and handed you over to him. i think it was a human instinct that made him automatically take you in his arms, he looked a bit bewildered- but i could get the documents out of my handbag and show them to him so we could board.  It was your naptime, and usually you always slept anywhere, but not that day; you wanted to explore the plane, and so we did: for two hours we walked up and down the aisle. Us having a stopover that hadn’t been mentioned on the tickets or anywhere else didn’t help, i guess. you DID fall asleep eventually: five minutes before we landed….

We arrived at home at 8 pm- the shops were closed and we were both pretty tired. But then i saw that “Zorro” with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas was on TV, one of my favourite movies; I found some Salami Sticks and a bag of M&M’s in our cupboard, and you and I had what we called a “couch party”. In one of the first scenes from the movie Zorro sits on his horse in front of the descending sun; you asked me what that was, and i said “Pferd” (german for ‘horse’), which isn’t the easiest word to say for a one-and-a-half-year old boy. But fortunately there are a lot of horses in that movie, and you made me say it every single time one of them was on the screen and turned my head around so you could see what my lips were doing. 2 hours later we had eaten loads of ‘good’ stuff, you could say ‘Pferd’ perfectly and we both fell asleep on the couch.

EMILY

Do you remember Emily? You were about one and a half years old when you first mentioned her; it was slightly freaky- you had never met any girl with that name, you weren’t even in kindergarten or daycare yet. Also, it was one of our name options had you been born a girl.  But then you explained it to us: she was your friend who lived in our cellar. Duh!  She was your age and blonde, as far as i remember. She seemed to like our basement as she stayed for almost a year, but one day you told us she had left: “She hurt her leg very badly and took a taxi to the airport; there, she boarded a plane and flew home.” We worried about her- she had been our guest for such a long time, she never said good-bye to us, we didn’t know where she was and she was only a little girl after all! -, but you weren’t too fussed about it and kept her destination (“home”) secret.  I used to say to your dad that when you are 25, you will probably introduce us to your fiancée Emily….  We shall wait and see.